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Is basing my revision off of the Specification enough?

I've spent the whole day revising the specification for my AQA GCSE Biology exam in just under a month. I found it easier than those cheesy CGP revision guides but feel there isn't enough detail on it? Does anyone else think/do this?

Reply 1

Kill3er

No, it's not enough. You use the specification to know what you need to learn and then you use another source to revise it.

To be fair i used to write notes on my specification though, and use that.
Whatever works for you i guess...

Reply 2

Channex

Original post by Kill3er

Thanks for the reply, I'll do a past paper and see how I get on :smile:

Reply 3

MilenaW

Hi, I'm also doing the AQA Biology exam. :smile:

I'm partially revising from the specification too because at the end of the day, it has all the relevant information that you could be examined on. However for me, the specification is only useful if I'm already familiar with a topic. If I'm learning something new, the specification is not enough and I need something else to explain and give a diagram .etc. so when I reach a tricky topic I then turn to my revision guide.

Not forgetting that we still have Paper 2 which is more experiment based, so for that we just need to revise stuff like fair testing .etc. which is not found on the specification. Past papers help with that because you'll know what to expect.

Good luck!

Reply 4

'Chris'

The specification is basically just a list of facts on a page. You need a revision resource to actually explain the information for you to understand, there's not point simply learning the information from the specification, it won't make sense and you will probably forget it. Although you might not like the CGP guides, they take their notes straight from the specification so the information is very precise and accurate. If you truly despise of them that much, there are plenty other revision materials. The way to use the specification is to get a textbook or resource and tick off the information on the specification once you've been through it in detail from a textbook or whatever you're using. This ensures you are only studying what's going to be on the exam. Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 5

thewishfulwriter

Original post by Channex

Specifications are a good idea to check you've done everything on there, almost like a list of what to revise. However they won't have the detail needed.

CGP are cringey, agreed! But learn everything in there (assuming it's all relevant to the specification) and you will be able to do well at GCSE.